WASHINGTON, D.C. Repeals Sodomy Law
 
Paraphrased from The Washington Post April 8, 1993
 
     The D.C. Council, responding to 12 years of emotional pleas
from the city's gay community, repealed a law last night that
forbids sodomy between consenting adults. 
     Council members ignored the opposition of some religious
leaders and voted unanimously to erase the 45-year-old statute,
which long has been one of the most sensitive political issues in
the District.
     "It's about damn time," said Deacon MacCubbin, a longtime gay-
rights activist in the District.  "Finally, they voted to do the
right thing."
     Debate on the sodomy law shifts now to Congress, which has 60
legislative days to review the repeal. Federal lawmakers nullified
a similar council vote to erase the sodomy law in 1981. Sodomy
remains a crime in Maryland and Virginia, despite attempts at
repeal in Maryland. 
     The District law, which made sodomy a felony, does not specify
homosexual acts, but it has seldom been invoked against anyone
other than gay people. And although city officials told D.C. police
officers last year not to use the law against consenting adults,
gay-rights activists say that it still stigmatizes their
relationships. 
     Even if some lawmakers take steps to block the repeal, Del.
Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) said she is confident that the
Clinton administration would veto the move.
     
                              DC in '93